Legal weed in New Jersey? 'More people are gonna die,' veteran prosecutor says

Study shows pedestrian deaths are greater in states with legalized Marijuana
John Cichowski/NorthJersey.com

Study shows pedestrian deaths are greater in states with legalized marijuana

If marijuana is decriminalized in New Jersey, how might a pot-smoking driver learn about his limits behind the wheel? That’s just one of the questions posed as Gov. Phil Murphy considers joining other states by lifting the ban on recreational marijuana.(Photo: Elaine Thompson/AP)

If Gov. Phil Murphy really expects to legalize recreational marijuana use, he might want to read pages 34 through 36 of the most recent report published by a road-safety group that all governors join upon taking office.

According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, pedestrians are getting killed at a much higher rate in seven states and Washington, D.C., where pot is now legal, compared with New Jersey and the 42 other states where carrying or consuming it still remains illegal.

The numbers are stark.

Comparing the first six months of 2016 with the same period in 2017, the report shows a 16.4 percent jump in walking deaths in jurisdictions where it’s legal to light up a joint — Alaska, Colorado, Washington, D.C., Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Washington State. In states that still assess fines or throw violators in jail for this offense, pedestrian fatalities fell 5.8 percent.

These figures aren’t particularly encouraging for those who rely on pot to relieve pain, treat ailments or (ahem) lift spirits. And the governors' report numbers don’t do much to support optimistic estimates that suggest regulating sales of a heretofore underground commodity might pour hundreds of millions — even billions — into the New Jersey economy.

“Yes, I get it — pot can produce revenue,” said Ronald Dario, a veteran municipal prosecutor. “But what about the increased medical and insurance costs caused by the additional road crashes that will surely occur?”

Hyperbole? Legalization advocates with New Jersey United for Marijuana Reform think so.

They argue that uncounted millions of drivers currently use pot and no credible evidence has materialized to show a direct link between legalization and increased road crashes. Indeed, the governors' report doesn’t offer details, such as the number of pot users among the pedestrians and drivers killed in the crashes cited.

But the financial damage caused when vehicles collide isn’t hyperbole. The Federal Highway Administration fixes the cost of a fatality at more than $4 million. Traffic injuries range from nearly $45,000 to $216,000. Property damage averages $7,400.

Costly prosecutions

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“And marijuana prosecutions are costly — very costly — because you can’t rely on machines to determine sobriety,” added Dario, who is predicting a dismal, pot-enhanced future when Routes 17 and 80 bring an epic number of drug-related driving cases into his Wood-Ridge courtroom. “You have to call in experts, and testimony takes up court time.”

Wood-Ridge Municipal Prosecutor Ronald Dario believes “more people are gonna die” on the roads if New Jersey authorizes marijuana for recreational use.(Photo: John Cichowski/NorthJersey.com)

New Jersey already employs more than 340 drug-recognition experts. Although that’s more than any other state except California, police believe the figure could easily double if pot became a recreational drug.

Although these factors aren’t fleshed out in the governors' report, its author, Richard Retting, calls his work “an early look at potential traffic-safety implications” when walkers and drivers gain additional access to marijuana.

According to state police figures, both groups are endangered. Driver deaths in New Jersey have climbed more than 24 percent to 343 since 2015, and pedestrian fatalities have soared nearly 39 percent to 183 since 2013.

Most disturbingly, these figures follow a half-century of steady declines that closely parallel national road-death counts, a trajectory that started reversing itself when the economy and cellphone usage began expanding.

The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association cites a 72 percent increase nationally from 2012, when 152 million phones were in use, to 262 million last year.

Hard questions

So the time is ripe to find answers to some hard questions:

Won’t legalizing pot encourage the dangerous habit of driving while under its influence — the same way smartphones encourage us to drive under the influence of another dangerous habit?

If legalization is necessary, how can New Jersey ensure that stoned driving won’t overwhelm all the predicted advantages, such as relieving pain, stopping otherwise unjustified arrests and producing government revenue tied to legitimate sales?

So far, the new governor has launched a study that mostly focuses on easing the rules barring most medical marijuana applications. But three weeks before he took office, New Jersey AAA invited drug experts and representatives from some of the eight “pot states” and a few border states to help brainstorm countermeasures.

AAA New Jersey spokeswoman Tracy Noble says lack of a simple roadside technology for detecting motorists driving under the influence of pot would make it more difficult for police to keep roads safe if New Jersey decriminalized marijuana.(Photo: John Cichowski/NorthJersey.com)

Tracy Noble, a spokeswoman for the auto club who made it clear that “AAA is not for legalization,” described the main message learned from the session this way:

“If legalization happens, it’s imperative that New Jersey not do what Colorado did, which was to start its program before enacting the necessary safeguards.”

Because — unlike determining drunkenness — breath-test machines and blood tests can’t accurately determine lack of sobriety for most drugs, police must be highly trained to judge when a driver appears to be unfit to operate a vehicle, Noble said.

Limited detection tools

“Ideally, we need a tool that can do that — similar to the Breathalyzer — but that tool doesn’t exist. So we’ll need a lot more [drug recognition experts] who can make those judgments,” she said, adding that “training them isn’t a simple matter; it’s a long and involved process.”

Until an ideal tool is developed, New Jersey’s driving laws should be changed to define impairment based on the conduct and appearance of a driver, as determined by a trained drug recognition expert, instead of a machine reading that relates to blood-alcohol concentration, she said.

Under some circumstances, drug recognition experts should also be permitted to order urine and oral-fluid samples before a drug leaves a suspect’s system.

In addition, Noble noted that New Jersey’s open-container law doesn’t cover edibles such as burnt marijuana or oils within reach of the driver.

In general, Noble called quality data and research covering the scope of the marijuana problem and its solutions “woefully lacking.” For example, if pot were legalized, what resources could users rely on to teach them their limitations behind the wheel?

“There’s insufficient data to provide motorists with guidance on the use of the drug in a way that does not impact on their ability to drive safely,” she said.